5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.
Paul continued his qualifications for young women in the church.
Good [kind],
Young women should not be boorish but bring grace to the home. They should exercise kindness toward all, showing benevolence to everyone. They are to take into consideration what others think and to be sympathetic even to their enemies.
Eph 4: 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
obedient [submissive] to their own husbands,
We cannot explain away the standard of submission by a cultural understanding. This phrase clearly presents itself as a transcultural moral standard.
Equality of the sexes does not negate distinction of the sexes. God Himself created sexual distinctions between male and female. Each sex has distinctive roles and those roles are not the same. God designed each role for the benefit of the other. The husband is to cherish his wife and the wife is to respect her husband (Eph 5).
The woman is to exercise an “obedient” or submissive attitude toward her husband. The Greek indicates that she is to do this herself. This is not the role of the husband.
that the word of God may not be blasphemed [reviled].
This is the second of four purpose clauses (vv. 4, 8, 10). This purpose and the purpose of verse 10 emphasize glorifying the Word of God. If a woman follows the norms leading to this statement, then no one can blemish God’s Word.
The word “blasphemed” connotes the idea to defame. People will defame the Bible in the church or the world through certain behaviors by young women. Skeptics will judge the genuineness of faith by how consistently we live out the norms of Christianity. They will make evaluations of our faith by whether we believe in the effectiveness of the Word of God in our lives. If it is not valuable to us, how can we expect it to be of value to them?
In keeping with behavior that accords with doctrine, we have this statement that doctrine with accompanying behavior honors the Word of God. Anything less will blaspheme God’s Word. The word “that” expresses the purpose of standards for behavior—so that the world not blaspheme the Word of God. The motivating force is that the unbelieving world’s criticism of Christianity does not have a leg to stand on.
PRINCIPLE:
Behavior of young women will reflect on how others perceive the Word of God.
APPLICATION:
The Bible expects young women to possess skills of keeping the home what it should be. The young woman needs to know how to relate to her husband and love her children so that she testifies to the dynamics of the Word of God.
Biblical standards that relate to women are under great attack today, especially the role of women in marriage. The so-called evangelical feminist movement has done great damage to biblical norms, characterizing the Bible as chauvinistic and sexist. These feminist women interpret explicit statements of Scripture as cultural rather than taking them in a normal sense, or they flat out reject extant statements from the Bible as non-binding for Christian women today.
The fundamental issue is rejection of the Word of God in favor of culture. Culture and what man says takes precedence over the Bible and what God says. This is done in the name of women’s rights, a high value to secular humanists. Many untaught women believe these lies. Secular society has seduced them to deny biblical truth. This is especially true for women abused by men. Although the church needs to address mistreatment by men, there is no justification for believing something anti-Christian.
We can find feminism in Satan’s temptation of Eve (Ge 3:16). She did not want her husband to rule over her. Her desire was to usurp Adam’s role in marriage. This was part of God’s curse on humanity.
The Galatians statement that there is “neither male nor female” teaches that there is equality of person in the sexes. It does not teach total equality of the sexes in role but equality of persons in relation to God. Role in marriage and equality of person are not the same thing. Both man and woman have equality of standing before God.
Nathan the prophet said that David “despised” God by committing adultery with Bathsheba and killing her husband Uriah (2 Sa 12:9-11). This was an occasion of God’s enemies to blaspheme, and it caused people to scorn the Lord (2 Sa 12:14). Women are to let their lights shine in such a way as to glorify the Father in heaven (Mt 5:16; Ph 2:15; 1 Pe 2:9).
